[05/31/11 - 05:39 PM]Morena Baccarin Joins the Cast of Showtime's New Drama Series "Homeland"She'll take over for Laura Fraser as the "intrepid and complicated wife" of Damian Lewis's character.

[via press release from Showtime]

MORENA BACCARIN JOINS THE CAST OF SHOWTIME'S NEW DRAMA SERIES "HOMELAND"

New Series Starring Claire Danes, Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin To Premiere This Fall on SHOWTIME

Actress Morena Baccarin (V, Firefly) has signed on to star in a major role opposite Claire Danes and Damian Lewis in SHOWTIME's new, one-hour drama series HOMELAND. Baccarin will play the role of Jessica Brody, Sgt. Nick Brody's (Damian Lewis) intrepid and complicated wife. HOMELAND begins production this month and will be executive produced by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, who recently served as executive producers on the long-running series 24.

Born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in New York, Morena Baccarin is the daughter of Brazilian stage actress Vera Setta and Brazilian Record TV News Coordinator, Fernando Baccarin. She moved to Greenwich Village at the age of 7, and later studied theatre at the prestigious Julliard School. Morena Baccarin has gained recent success and recognition for her lead role in ABC's television show, V. In this 2009 remake of the 80's mini-series, she starred as Anna, the leader of a cult of aliens known as the Visitors. Her first movie role came in 2001 in the improvised fashion world comedy Perfume. Following that, she landed a lead part in film festival hit, Way Off Broadway (2001) and appeared with Natalie Portman in the acclaimed Central Park production of The Seagull. The science fiction drama Firefly was Baccarin's first television show, and she later reprised her role in the 2005 film Serenity, a continuation of the cancelled series.

HOMELAND, which was written by Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa and Gideon Raff, centers on an American soldier (Damian Lewis) taken prisoner during the Iraq invasion in 2003. Left for dead, he miraculously returns to the U.S. after years in captivity. Carrie Anderson (Claire Danes), a driven CIA officer battling her own psychological demons, becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to his rescue was a setup and that this national hero may be connected to an Al Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil. Mandy Patinkin plays Saul, a veteran CIA Division Chief who is Carrie's boss and mentor.